Moments in Dirt and Ink

Lowest: South Fork Six Rivers National Forest (red for day 1, click for map ) DAY 1  |  DAY 2 Back to South Fork Trinity River, but this time on a familiar trail. I hiked this trail in spring of 2020 . That was a day hike determined to get as far as the ford. This time I was determined I would cross that ford and see the rest of it. The plan, assuming all is well with the trail, was to hike to the road at the far end, about 9 miles, then return to some camping area. Grouse Creek looked promising for that camp. To that end, I packed for the overnight. Great big parking area at the end of some decidedly one lane road. I stopped by an information board containing only the most generic messages. I agree, my campfire should be dead out and everything I pack in should come back out with me. Turn around and start down the unsigned trail. There's a trail number and an arrow further down the road, if signs are required. Trail with a couple trees down. There aren't m...

(almost to) Arcata Field Office BLM ( map link ) I looked around the Kneeland area and concluded the Iaqua Buttes Lookout at the top of the highest of the Iaqua Buttes would be a nice place to go and a little over a day after a passing storm dropping a couple inches of snow down to 1000 feet might be a particularly picturesque time to do it. Well, assuming roads weren't too treacherous. The car managed to climb up one icy piece of road just fine, but wouldn't turn right to follow the curve of the road and stay out of the oncoming lane, so there was some treachery going on. I found a beautiful big parking area on the side of Kneeland Road just short of unsigned Slater Road to make my start. Back along Kneeland Road from the heart of working cattle rangelands Within 5 minutes, someone had stopped by to make sure I was okay (something that happens with disturbing frequency) and then informed me that this trip would be a failure. That county road goes up a little way and...

San Juan National Forest (map link) I was collecting things together to backpack a small loop on the Calico National Recreation Trail from the Priest Gulch Trailhead when a pair of backpackers just finished with through hiking the 19 miles popped up. The usual hiker greetings are important, for they give the opportunity to then gain information. In this case, this spring on the map, is it any good? If it is good, there is an excellent opportunity to grab a few peaks. As it turns out, they had searched out that spring and creative water gathering was required because they did not find it. Almost all of the water to be found on the ridge was snow. I am not a fan of this particular water source, personally. Third worst water ever. Anyway, if I'm looking for views and possible peak bagging, I should be at the other end. This loop will be entirely in forest. Yes, even the ridgeline that Calico follows. I could follow them there, if I liked. So I took this advice, although I'm ...

Six Rivers National Forest (map link) There's a piece of riverside trail along the Klamath between Bluff Creek and Aikens Creek, or so it says on the map. I decided to start it on the south end, so headed into the much reduced Aikens Campground. It had running water, flush toilets, and even a dump station once. Now it doesn't even have pit toilets to serve the people who might choose to camp, updated fee: free for up to 14 days, in the wide open spaces between the hills. It does look like it gets some use, but was completely empty. Nothing points to the trail, but I found it very easily from the closed campground loop by walking around the gate and through the first site. The only indication that it was once a camp site was the stone base for an iron stove. Everything else is vanishing under the leaf litter. "Closed for the winter" it says, but that was a lot of winters ago. The trail, in contrast, was beautifully built and still getting some use just like ...

Six Rivers National Forest DAY 1  |  DAY 2 (map link) Bluff Creek Historic Trail gets my attention as I zoom by because it is clearly signed to be visible from the road and the trail is obviously used and in good shape. Also, why is "Historic" stuck in there? (Besides the obvious, the Forest Service simply says, "Gateway to Bigfoot Country" , which doesn't seem particularly unique along the Bigfoot Scenic Byway.) It doesn't get my attention when I'm looking at a map because it just offers about 1.5 miles of connecting the highway to Slate Creek Road, a paved road that leaves the highway a short distance northeast of the trail. However, further along in the same direction and connected by an unimproved road is "Wright Place (site)" which sits next to Bluff Creek. The trail is numbered, the road is not. While it is tempting to think that an old road is bigger and therefore more likely to be passable, it doesn't really work out that wa...

Klamath National Forest DAY 1  |  DAY 2 ... oh, bother again (map link) This is the overnight plan I was most looking forward to. The Forest Service quad shows a trail running 4-5 miles north (upstream) along the Klamath River from the road at the Halverson River Access to a pair of odd shaped inholdings. Things like that are usually patent mine claims. This was likely access to the Stenshaw-On-Klamath placer mine, originally. Just south of a massive landslide, another trail climbs away from the river to an old road that in turn connects to Ogaromtoc Lake with a campground. A nice walk along the river, then a climb to a lake with luxury accommodations (= tables and a toilet could be provided!) in about 6 miles. Short, but otherwise what's not to love? The marked river access next to the bridge. There were some clues this plan might not work out as I hoped. The Forest states that this is a 0.6 mile trail down to a spot popular with fly fishermen , substantial...

Klamath National Forest DAY 1  |  DAY 2 ... oh, bother (map link) I finally sorted out that what I should be doing with all these nice, sunny, winter days is trying out some of the speculative backpacking trips on my winter suggestions ! Then this one rainy night popped up to interrupt the sunny days, but I got everything together to go. The rain oozed into the next morning and I sort of delayed because I didn't want to be in it. I drove out pelted with rain and looking at an impressive amount of recently completed work by Caltrans making CA-299 clear and safe for the usual speeds. There were even big groups of workers at a couple turn outs getting either some congratulations or prep for the next step. I got to the start of trail only delayed by the current road workings on CA-96. Since it was already lunchtime, I went for the one that seemed the most reliable at the end of a little road on the south side of the Salmon River. The start, on Somes Mountain Trail, is ma...